T.G.I.F.: I pledge to speak truth to power--Will Philips
On Monday October 5, 2009 10-year old Will Phillips, a resident of Washington County, Arkansas and a student in the West Fork School district remained seated during the daily pledge of allegiance to the U.S. flag as a protest as a queer ally because he recognizes that the LGBTQ community is not treated as equal to those who are straight--that basic rights, like the right to marry--is denied to them, and as Will said in an interview with The Arkansas Times: “I

Random Thanksgiving Day thoughts
[For more cohesive thoughts about Thanksgiving, see some former posts of mine here and here]8:00am Turn on the television in preparation for my annual tradition of watching the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade. [note: I think this may be the most consistent ritual that I can recall doing that extends from my childhood into my adulthood. At some point I always turn on the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade. I don't necessarily watch it all the way through or watch it without flipping to other channels. And I certain

Passing as Chinese
Today Southern Man and I ate at a new Chinese restaurant we recently discovered. It is now our new favorite Chinese restaurant in the area (this is no small feat because remember, I am in THE SOUTH--and yes, I'm being snobby, but I grew up going to Oakland Chinatown every Sunday and my mother is a mean cook in her own right, so my standards for Chinese food are quite high).Anyway, we wanted to order pea shoots (which are on the menu) only to be told by our waitress that they aren't available (seasonal--which I should have known, but I thought just *maybe* they had a source on pea shoots in the fall). In trying to find a substitute green, I asked her about the "Chinese greens"

Education--a right and a responsibility
Let me first say that I am entirely biased. I am a university professor. I have spent A LOT of time in classrooms, as a student and now as a teacher. I obviously believe in education, formal education, as a good and as a goal that everyone should strive for.Let me also say that I know of many successful people who did not attend college or university--people in my own family who, for a variety of reasons, some chosen and some not, never attended a four-year institution of higher learning. So I'm certainly not saying that I believe everyone must attend college and that a university diploma is the sign of success or intelligence.But I do believe that higher educati

Obama haters are white (and other observations that you may have been able to guess yourselves)
This just in from The Guardian/UK: "Hate Obama? You may not be racist but you will be white." The author, Michael Tomasky, does a fairly thoughtful job of explaining why discussions of racism haven't been more prevalent in the anti-Obama rhetoric that coheres around President Barack Obama. Although truthfully, I don't think he goes far enough in uttering the magic phrase "white privilege" or more forcefully "white supremacy" when it comes to thinking about how a 98% white crowd could be implicated in structural racism without ever uttering the dreaded "N" word (at least not publicly fo